Curran`s `Brel` Changes Get Critical Cheer

The musical Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris is one of the rarest regional theater events, a critical smash before its opening at the Colony Theatre on Miami Beach this week.

From its beginnings more than a year ago, the revue was an unlikely choice for that distinction. Even the staff and crew expected a hip-pocket production. Director Keith Curran, however, had other ideas.

``I`ve been obsessed with Jacques Brel`s music since I was a kid and always wanted to do this show,`` says Curran. ``It`s one of the reasons why I went into musical theater.``

Brel first appeared off-Broadway in New York in 1968 as a modest cabaret musical. Instead of the traditional mix of inexpensive props and simple, black dress, Curran demanded a full theater setting, costumes and lighting for his 20th anniversary revival. He rearranged the 24 songs into a progression that would sustain character definitions he had in mind.

Curran had spent much of his early career developing nightclub and cabaret acts, showing a knack that eventually led some theater operators to hire him to spruce up their revues. Most got more than they bargained for.

``I`ve specialized in taking small revues and making them theatrical experiences,`` Curran says. ``The revue format is very distinctive, but it`s about show business, not about people.

``What I tried to do was rip out the foundations of the revue itself, to defy people`s expectations.``

That was more than evident last autumn, when Curran`s Jacques Brel opened the 1988 season at the Ruth Foreman Theatre West in Broward. The show astounded critics who had come to know it as a dark, Kafka-esque dirge. Audiences were pleased, too, by the bright slashes of cheer that Curran and the ensemble had found in the music and lyrics.

For Dennis Jones, whose wife and daughter co-starred in last year`s production, ``The spirits of Jacques Brel materialize and we watch his magical kingdom.``

For months afterward, there was talk within the Foreman organization of remounting the show elsewhere. A series of crises, including Foreman`s death and a forced move of her Broward operation into another playhouse, blunted those hopes.

When new Foreman producer Joan Franks was forced to shelve ideas of restaging Jacques Brel, the actors themselves got involved in its survival. The mother- daughter singing team of Mona and Rachel Jones convinced Dennis to acquire the rights for future productions in this area. That caused some irritation in the Foreman Theatre front office, which took months to overcome.

Still ahead for the Joneses lay the quest for a theater in which to put the show. Negotiations with several playhouses broke down over the course of the winter and spring.

Meanwhile on Miami Beach, concert impresario Judy Drucker had assumed management of the 500-seat Colony Theatre. Since modest renovations had converted the auditorium from a movie house two years ago, the Colony had been struggling to find suitable programs and attract audiences.

Drucker has acted quickly to create a schedule for the coming winter season. So, by the time Jones approached her with the idea of using Jacques Brel to launch a repertory company at the playhouse, Drucker had already lined up her own season.

Jones decided to remount Jacques Brel this week, the only dates available, knowing the risks of trying to launch a theater project this time of year.

He was a member of the South Pacific production mounted by Melissa Hart at Bailey Hall in Davie in September of 1987. Though respectably produced, that musical failed to draw sufficient patronage; its losses contributed to the collapse of Hart`s plans for a permanent theater troupe.

But, says Jones, ``This show has got to be seen. If I don`t lose my butt on this engagement, we hope to go further with it and present it at other theaters.``

The production got a boost just this week from South Florida`s drama critics, who voted overwhelmingly to nominate the show and its cast for its annual Carbonell Awards. Jacques Brel has a total of 10 nominations, more than any show of the past year, including Best Musical and nominations for both Mona and daughter Rachel.

White

Rachel Jones is the only cast member not returning to Jacques Brel. She recently was chosen to understudy a major role for the Broadway musical Meet Me In St. Louis, and has been replaced by veteran actress-singer Heidi White. A few changes are taking place as a result -- and because Curran wants to improve some areas he was dissatisfied with last year.

Otherwise, this is essentially a re-creation of the Foreman production, including the haunting set design by Stephen Placido Jr., which Jones purchased from the Foreman troupe.

Curran sums up the troupe`s efforts in terms of two songs. Like other viewers, he felt most productions present only the darker side of Brel`s lyrics and that the closing number, If We Only Have Love, rings false as a result.

``The other song, My Death, isn`t really a dirge. It`s about how you choose to die and that what`s behind that door doesn`t really matter. In front of the door is you. It`s an honest, captivating look at the virtues of love.

``So, when we get to the finale and If We Only Have Love, we`ve earned it.``